Columba livia (Rock Dove, wild), Duncansby Head, Caithness, Scotland 1🕊️

Photo: william_stephens · CC BY 4.0

SpeciesColumbiformesColumbidae
Birds

🕊️Rock Dove

Columba livia J.F.Gmelin, 1789

The rock dove, also known as the common pigeon or rock pigeon, is a member of the bird family Columbidae. In common usage, it is often simply referred to as the "pigeon", although the rock dove is the wild form of the bird; the pigeons familiar to most people are the domesticated forms of the wild rock dove.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
11
Photos
5
Measurements
12
vs you
≈ 1/180th of your weight
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2025.

Population trendUnknown
Key measurements
Body mass
0.35 kg
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
35 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Rock Dove

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
0.35 kg
AVONET
Other figures ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

By sex

  • Male294 kgWikidataQ42326
  • Female267 kgWikidataQ42326

Figures vary

  • 0.36 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: high
Tail length
0.11 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Wing length
0.22 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Beak length
0.02 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Tarsus length
0.03 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
35 years
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: high

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Gestation
18 days
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: high

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Litter size
about 2
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: high

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Trophic level
Herbivore
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Habitat
Human Modified
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Lifestyle
Terrestrial
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
0.4 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Rock Dove yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classAves
  4. ›orderColumbiformes
  5. ›familyColumbidae
  6. ›genusColumba
  7. ›speciesColumba livia
Full lineage
  1. superclassTetrapoda
  2. orderSauria
  3. classBirds · Aves
  4. orderPigeons & doves · Columbiformes
All 10 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. classBirds · Aves
  10. orderPigeons & doves · Columbiformes
More

More about the Rock Dove

Closest relative on this site
🕊️ Common Wood Pigeon — last shared an ancestor ≈ 11 million years ago.
In other languages
原鸽 (zh), Gołąb skalny (pl), Columba livia (es), szirti galamb (hu), Περιστέρι (el), Rotsduif (nl) … and 28 more languages

Animals caught on camera

Real footage of the animals on this site — hunting, fighting, and getting on with it.

See all 11 videos →
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